Literally Speaking: Rockin’ the Self-Publishing World

Toz first discovered this online self-publishing community through LinkedIn, joining several author groups on that site. That led her to Facebook and a variety of blogs. “Before I knew it I had a whole support group online of authors and book reviewers and bloggers and readers who support the whole indie community.” She recommends The Indie Exchange as a resource, as well as an informative blog by Terri Long. “The biggest advice everybody gave me was to treat it as a business and put out the best possible product, and make it look as professional as possible.”

Pokras Toz hired a content editor as well as a copy editor, and added a designer to her crew who did the cover and the interior formatting. The process, however, was not flawless. “I made a lot of mistakes along the way,” the author admits. One mistake, she feels, was to start out using CreateSpace, Amazon’s self-publishing arm. “I found out it’s very hard to get into brick & mortar stores that way,” she says. “I switched to Lightning Source and now Barnes & Noble and independent stores are picking it up.”

She likes Lightning Source because it “offers the same discount as bookstores are used to and it’s returnable.” Toz recommends that self-published authors also “have your own ISBN instead of free ones that come from the distributor. Then you own it and have your own imprint.” Toz has her own imprint, called Grand Daisy Press. “It’s an indie publisher but it doesn’t scream self-published. That’s key to getting into bookstores.”

As for the life of a self-publisher, it is indeed the constant battle for PR and distribution that one would think it would be. Cautions Toz: “If you’re going to just sit down and write a book and then think you’re done, you’re not. The marketing never ends. The minute I think it’s holding its own and I pull back, the sales drop.”